


Have You Ever Tried To Not Say It?

by fbawtft



Category: Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1974), The Great Gatsby (2013)
Genre: But its very light, Eye emoji x2, Implied Sexual Content, Jay implies that nick will be saying his name in a much different way in the last line, M/M, Very light mention of Daisy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 10:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10989246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fbawtft/pseuds/fbawtft
Summary: Nick wonders if Gatsby can hold an entire conversation without the use of "old sport" accompanying the end if every other sentence or word.He gets wrapped up in a bet with Jay and he can't find a phrase to pick up.Jay helps him there.





	Have You Ever Tried To Not Say It?

“Old sport, have you ever--”

“Have you ever tried saying anything without saying or using your term of endearment for me or anyone else, Jay?”

Nick received a long stare at the back of his head. Jay, standing and making the two another round of drinks had turned his head around and watched Nick swirl his drink out of boredom and waiting for the other round. “I… Well, no. I haven’t tried to. Ever, I don’t think,” He turned back around, his voice raised a bit higher (as it usually did) at the end of the sentence. He poured the alcohol into two martini glasses for them. “Have you ever tried to pick something up, Nick?” 

“I don’t believe I have nor do I believe I’d be able to keep up with it.” Nick took the fresh glass from Jay, “Thank you.”

“Do you think you can try to?”

“I don’t know. Why, what do you have in mind, Jay?”

Jay paused, offering him that smile and look over at Nick from the corner of his eye. Jay had been looking out onto the water at nothing in particular (the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock had been taken down by the people who recently moved into the house. The house had also been painted over in white, which Gatsby took relief in; he’d been trying to steer his mind forward, not backwards). 

“I don’t like that look,” Nick joked, looking down and laughing quietly. When he glanced back up, Jay was smiling and looking at him dead on before they both starting laughing together. 

“I was think that I can try to… refrain from adding my term to every other sentence I say and that you can try to pick on up. Bet?”

Nick looked shocked at the tiny question. Bet? Bet what? What would he bet? What would the winner and the loser do? “Bet on what and for what? Like, what would the winner and loser do or get if one of us fails?”

“You’ll have to give me time to think about that, Nick.” Jay emphasised Nick’s name, showing him how easy it’d be for him to drop “old sport.”

\---

It was the exact opposite for Jay. He kept having to cut himself off when talking business. It was hard, he never had to use a client's name when talking to them, he always fell back on his phrase, finding it easier and much better for when he didn't know someone's name and didn’t want to seem rude by asking for it again. 

Nick, however, didn’t even know what to use as a term of endearment. He was at a loss for days until the next time he met with Gatsby, which he found funny, considering they lived right next door to each other. He had nearly walked himself over there on more occasions than one, but he didn’t until that weekend, when Gatsby found it safe enough to host another party (it had been months after events of summer 1922, nearly a year since). Nick, two glasses in his hands, greeted anyone who caught his eye with a passing smile and maneuvered his way through crowds of people and up the stairs. “Table for one, please.” He spoke when he finally found Gatsby. “God, you’re hard to find on these nights. I never know if you’re in your room or your study or the library.”

“Sorry, o-- Nick, I thought you knew where I was.”

Nick shook his head, “No. No one told me when I asked. They either didn’t tell me anything at all or they shrugged and said they didn’t know where you were, considering you don’t make many appearances at your parties..” He didn’t finish his sentence, only letting it drag out and die while he continued to stand in the threshold, awkwardly holding both champagne glasses, looking around and chewing on his cheek. When he resorted to rocking on his heels, Jay clicked and offered the seat across from him to Nick. Jay watched Nick cross the room and set the glasses down on the coffee table. “A drink, Jay?”

Jay didn’t respond as quickly, he only focused on Nick for a while before shaking his head quickly and looked down at Nick’s hand. “What? Oh, no, no. No, thank you. I’m quite all right,” He gestured behind him at the cups of water on his desk - one full, the other nearly empty. He offered him a kind smile to end his gesture. 

Nick only nodded and took a sip out of the one he still held. “Is anything the matter, Jay?” 

“I…” He looked at the floor, taking sudden interest in the bland patterns of it. Trying to collect his thoughts and words, he cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyebrows. Nick leaned forward in his seat as he waited for him to speak again. “I think I’ve decided on a.. reward, if you will.”

“Oh? Do tell, then, Jay.”

Jay’s breath caught as he inhaled. “Well.. It’s sort of like.. Ah, how do I word this..” His face flushed bright color in the yellow-ish light of his room. He smiled at Nick and breathed in another breath before spinning on his heel and circling around to the back of his desk and picked up his nearly empty cup, downing the last sips in one shot. “It’s sort of like if I win, I get a kiss. If you win, you get a date,” he rushed out. He started downing the other glass immediately after, mouth astonishingly dry even after drinking water. A nervous look painted over his face as he look at Nick past the side of his cup. 

Nick didn’t react as quickly and he didn’t hear his proposition that well. He heard it in a quick manner and it took him a couple of seconds to be able to piece it together. “Wait, what?”

“Ah! Never mind, Nick! It wouldn’t work, it'd be too far out for the both of us--”

“No, no. I think heard what you said.” Jay’s nervous look overtook his features again as his face flushed even further. Nick decided to play with him a little, taking joy in the unguarded emotions Jay let loose when he was around Nick, “But I’m not entirely clear on what it was. Can you repeat it again?” 

The blond’s breath hitched again as he tried to reword his previous declaration. “I..” He sighed, “I said that if I won, I would get a kiss and the if you won, you would get a date with yours truly.” He tried to add a touch of humor to the end of it. By the time he finished, he looked back up at Nick, relieved and pleased to see him flushed pink, nearly red. 

Nick, clearly, was at a loss of words when Jay proposed the reward system for the both of them. “I.. Why do you only get a kiss? Wouldn’t it make more sense for both of us to get the same thing?”

“Well, yes, you see, o-- Nick, but I’ve been to the place I’d take you on a date to.. If you win, that is. Multiple times. On business, pleasure, for no reason at all. I’ve walked that beach more times than I can count,” Jay smiled and waved the question away with a dismissive hand. “You, on the other hand, haven’t. I think. I’m sure you have not.”

“Okay. Then Why do you only get a kiss and nothing else? Don’t you want something else, too?”

Jay laughed, leaning back against his desk and throwing his head back. “Nick, what else would I need?” His question sounded arrogant to him, and he instantly regretted it, not wanting to sound like Too Much to Nick. The question vaguely implied the entirety of his house and everything in it.

“I don't know,” Nick replied, crossing his legs. “Maybe something.. A little less? Just a change of everything? I’m not saying get rid of this house -” Ah, so he picked up on it, Jay thought - “I just mean like.. See something else? Without waiting for something..” Nick finished quietly, looking down at his glass now, and rubbing his thumb over the rim of the cup. 

Jay looked up in thought. “I suppose.. You’re right. A change of view and surrounding might work.” A devilish smile crossed his face, he wanted to see Nick blush again. “Does that mean that the rewards have been revamped to you get a date from me if you win, and I get a kiss and, what, several days living with you if I win?” 

Nick stuttered and blushed again, “I! I didn’t mean me, but--”

“Are you saying you don't want me too, or you're backing out of the bet?”

“Neither!”

“So you wouldn’t mind me staying at your house if I won, is that it?” Jay stepped close to Nick, sitting on the arm of the chair that was across from Nicks. He leaned forward on it as if to tease Nick. “Are you implying that you have a hidden agenda?”

“No!” He choked on his words, throwing himself back against the chair, like a strong wind had pushed him into it. 

“Then what is it, Nicky?” He cooed playfully.

Nick flushed even more at the nickname “It-it’s nothing, Jay. I swear!” 

“I refuse to believe that, but I won't press anymore,” He sighed, satisfied at how red Nick turned (he’d have to keep in mind what calling him “Nicky” could do to him for later). “Say. you haven’t picked up on a phrase yet, have you? No? Well, I got one for you.”


End file.
